Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

andsoundofthesongsofnightingalesechoingthroughShīrāz’smeadowsandgar-

dens.Itslargeparks,fountainsandgardens,imposingpalaces,pleasancesand

promenades,graciousbrothels(bayt al-luṭf)andmanytaverns(kharābāt)wereall

celebratedbyallitsgreatPersianpoets.Ḥāfiẓsang:

WhatdelightShīrāzis!Howpeerless

Hersiteandcircumstance.Donotlether,

OGod,declineandfallfromgrace.

...CometoShīrāz,entreatforgrace

OftheSpiritusDeifromhermen

Oflettersthere,versedinthesciences.^17

Andyet,whileḤāfiẓdidmentionthecityofShīrāzanditshumanandnaturalbeau-
tiesfrequentlyinhispoetry,thepoet’s‘real’worldlayelsewhere:thisterrestrial
topographywasbutapretexttocelebrateandanallegorytocatechizehisreader
aboutthewondersofLove’smetropolis.Ḥāfiẓ’srealhabitationwastheCité de
l’amour,ofwhichheclaimedtobeaneternaldenizen,hisbelovedShīrāzbutitstem-
poralplaceandlocalhabitationonearth.^18 Ḥāfiẓ’selevenreferencestothecityof
ShīrāzinhisDīvān,farfrombeingliteraldescriptionsofitslocalplaceandhabita-
tion,asmuchdepictthetopographyofthemundusimaginalisofthiscosmopolisof
Erosasfigureasactualreferencestothecity’sbordellos,pleasances,gardensandtav-
erns.Thesereferencesarenotsimplytoafun-loving‘cityfullofloveanderoticplea-
sures’,ascertainhistorians’imaginationsfancifullyproject,^19 forinnearlyallthese
referenceswordssuchas‘love’(‘ishq)orbeauty(ḥusn)hoveramidthesurrounding
lines,encasing,insomecasesreplacing,thecity’sphysicalgeographywithLove’s
supra-terrestrialutopiaandambience.^20 Thisromanticizationofurbancentreswas
anintegralaestheticdimensionofthePersianlove-lyric–ghazal–itself,foundin
manymajorclassicalPersianpoets.^21 Thus,Khāqānīvaunted‘HereandinDamascus
isthescaleofLove[dimashq-i‘āshiqī].OfDamascusceasetoboastforlove’sascale
withoutneedofgold’,^22 andRūmīcelebratedthe‘DamascusofLove’(dimashq-i
‘ishq),^23 andKamālKhujandīboastedthatTabrīzis‘buthalfaleague’awayfrom
Paradise,^24 justas‘UbaydZākānī,praisingShīrāzduringthe1340s,extolledhow‘By
thefortuneofthejusticeoftheking[AbuIsḥāqĪnjū,reg.743/1342–753/1353]who
caresforthepoor,theenvironsofShīrāzareparadiseonearth’.^25 Similarly,in
Ḥāfiẓ’slyricshisphysicalbirthplacemeldedintoametaphysicalparadiseoflove:

Shīrāzisatreasuryofrubylips,aquarryofbeauty.

BankruptjewellerthatIam,itallmakesmeuneasy.

SomanydrunkeneyesI’veseen,byGod,inthistown,

I’msofilledwithcheerthatI’veabandonedwine.

Thetownaboundswithcoycoquettesineachofthesix

Directions–I’mbroke,elseI’dbuyallsix.^26

ḤāfiẓintheSocio-historical,LiteraryandMysticalMilieuofMedievalPersia 5